Single chapter

The Works Council exercises all the powers defined in Chapter II of Title I of this Book and has sole authority to negotiate, conclude and revise company or establishment agreements. Its operating procedures are those defined in Chapter V of Title I of this book.

The works council may be set up by a company agreement concluded under the conditions set out in the first paragraph of article L. 2232-12. This agreement is for an indefinite period. It may also be set up by an industry-wide agreement for companies without a trade union representative. The agreement specifies the terms and conditions under which negotiations take place at establishment level.

The agreement provided for in article L. 2321-2 sets the list of topics such as professional equality, subject to the assent of the works council. Vocational training is a compulsory subject.

The agreement provided for in article L. 2321-2 sets the number of delegation hours from which the elected members of the works council participating in negotiations benefit. This number may not, save in exceptional circumstances, be less than a number of hours defined by decree by the Conseil d’Etat, depending on the number of employees in the company.

Time spent negotiating is automatically considered as working time and paid at the normal rate.

The agreement provided for in Article L. 2321-2 includes stipulations on compensation for travel expenses.

Where applicable, the agreement provided for in article L. 2321-2 may determine the composition of the delegation which negotiates company or establishment agreements.

The agreement provided for in article L. 2321-2 may set the frequency of all or some of the subjects for negotiation by the works council.

The validity of a company or establishment agreement concluded by the works council is subject to its signature by a majority of the elected full members of the works council or by one or more full members who received more than 50% of the votes cast in the last professional elections. To determine the latter threshold, the votes received in the first round of elections are taken into account for…

The works council defined in this title may be set up in undertakings belonging to an economic and social unit. The agreement defined in article L. 2321-2 is concluded either at the level of one or more undertakings making up the economic and social unit, or at the level of the economic and social unit. In the latter case, the rules governing the validity of the agreement are assessed by…